14 indicted in Kansas City in massive tax refund scam

A three-year scheme that allegedly tried to defraud the Internal Revenue Service out of millions in inflated tax refunds unraveled Thursday in Kansas City as authorities announced charges against 14 defendants from around the country.

A three-year scheme that allegedly tried to defraud the Internal Revenue Service out of millions in inflated tax refunds unraveled Thursday in Kansas City as authorities announced charges against 14 defendants from around the country.

U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips described it as the largest false tax claims case ever prosecuted in Missouri.

“Kansas City was the hub of a nationwide conspiracy that attempted to receive nearly $100 million in fraudulent tax refunds,” Phillips said.

The defendants from eight states include five from the Kansas City area, most notably its alleged ringleader, Gerald A. Poynter II. Poynter also went by the name “Brother Jerry Love,” the indictment alleged.

At Poynter’s initial court appearance Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Nelson described the 46-year-old — who also ran a karate studio in Blue Springs — as the center of a “hub and spoke” conspiracy spanning the nation.